Tag Archives: health

Nimbin, Bundjalung Country May 2018. The 45th Anniversary celebrations of the Aquarius Festival are currently happening in Nimbin and it has been one year since I arrived.

What has happened and what next? Over the past year I have written and published three books. The flea and the dinosaur is a children’s book that I wrote and illustrated with an engaging anti-bullying message. Then there is my new release two book poetry anthology from 2017 Love and Lust in Nimbin which started as one book and ended up as two books. “Love in Nimbin” and “Lust in Nimbin” These books are currently only available by direct mail of from fantAsian eatery Nimbin. However I am currently working on EPUB ebook copies and a large hardback format version of “The flea and the dinosaur.”

There is also a sticker and t-shirt range I am working on, a portraits of Nimbin art show that I am working toward later in the year, my 2018 poetry anthology “Peace and Protest in Nimbin” and my second children’s book called ” The Yowie who went to Booberowie” which is about a Yowie who takes all the good Aquarian ideals about Nimbin and takes them to a sad half dead town. (Sorry Booberowie, but you really need a makeover)

Art, writing, drawing and so much to do in Nimbin to keep ones mind occupied and great people too. That is why myself and some other people are looking to create an open hub of wellness and learning.

Twenty years ago I had dreams to build a collective learning centre for sustainability, land repair, and personal wellness. Nimbin has one of the highest proportion of tertiary educated people in Australia as well as being close to Brisbane, Gold Coast and Byron. That is why I believe Nimbin area would be appropriate for a Zeitgeist/Venus Project style learning hub.

Next step. Look for land and creative funding as well as benefactors.

Contact me via Email to buy a copy of mypoetry books. They are $20 each.

As for “The flea and the Dinosaur, you can buy a copy by clicking the link

After one year of waiting, saving, paying, working and more waiting I finally made it to Adelaide and then Lonsdale where the 1971 Leyland Atlantean double decker was waiting for me.

I left Brisbane on the 21st of December 2015 with Winston, the American couch surfer I’d hosted and “Uncle” Eric Robert Craigie. I expected to be in Adelaide in 2 days and eventually arrived on the 2nd of January 2016…….12 days later. So many interesting and synchronistic events happened along the way that I could write half a dozen blog posts about it. (later)

Highlights of the trip include:

being homeless in Byron Bay

meeting Bundjalung man Lewis Walker and family in Nimbin

staying with Spook Eye in Lismore and having Christmas Lunch with the homeless

Moree, Moree, Moree and hospitable people of Moree

getting my new car battery stolen in Moree

Moree artesian spas

3 days at the #PilligaPush camp with some amazing people culminating in a New Years Eve bush doof

a spontaneous video posted on Facebook that went viral. Watch it here.

A week later I eventually got to see The Atlantean. I was so happy that at last the work could begin in earnest.

I started to list all the things I needed for the bus, one of those being painting. I posted a call out on the Adelaide Street Artists Facebook page and next thing I get this message offering to paint the Atlantean in a live demonstration for the #littlerundlestreetartproject as part of the opening celebrations for the Adelaide fringe festival. This will happen on the 12th of February so now I am waiting get a permit to move it and finally have my first drive.

Since I arrived in Adelaide, I have met all kinds of interesting people including the guy responsible for the “Big Brother” RF chip in your visa card, writers, artists and teachers. I dropped in to SA Creative Writers Inc. looking to network and to find out about writing workshops to improve my writing and on the way out I was told about a woman doing something similar to me. So I got in contact with Fee Plumley of the Really Big Road Trip. We hit it off straight way on Facebook messenger, discovering our grandfathers shared the same name, “Arthur.” We had to meet.

I met Fee for a coffee and then we went for a free pizza which I had owing to me from the Bar that accidentally turned of the ATM as it was dispensing my money a day earlier. Fee and I have a lot more than our grandfathers’ names in common. Buses, passion for digital literacy, sovereignty, indigenous rights and activism. Fee invited me to a banner painting at her friends’ house where I was introduced to some of the Adelaide anarchist punk mob. Lo and behold they just happen to know activist mob from Brisbane.

I have started ollecting secondhand books for the Free Blue Library and also to gift away in return for support. Thanks to “Deb” for her generous donation.

I have sourced a spare wheel and tyre for the bus. I hope I never get a flat tyre by myself becauser it took a forklift to load it into place.

Also sourced two seconds solar panels with cosmetic damage at $50 each. (Thanks Fee and friend).

One last thing as part of my crowdfunding “Rewards Program” I want to offer the chance to come on the bus and participate in classes as both a guest teacher and student. My question to you, my readers is: How much would you be willing to pay per night, B and B, to stay in the bus, attend classes and also give a daily class on your speciality of interest in health, sustainability, or digital literacy? Please leave your comments below.

In the meantime if you can spare a few dollars to help me fund this school and it’s running costs. Here is the link.

I love dancing. Anyone that knows me well has seen me enjoying a good dance and knows how I love dancing.

The Free Dictionary defines Dance as a verb meaning, “to move rhythmically usually to music, using prescribed or improvised steps and gestures.” [1] I dance because I enjoy moving to music. I love the freedom that I have when I am dancing. I danced a only little when I was a teenager but always enjoyed it nonetheless. My sisters took dancing lessons in ballet, tap and jazz but not I. It wasn’t until my last year of high school that my physical education class had an assessable dance component. I had to choreograph a dance with a partner and enjoyed it so much that I got top marks of all the boys in the class.

As I have become older and wiser I am fortunate to live in a city which offers all kinds of opportunities for dancing. Last year I was fortunate to dance with a group of people worldwide in the International Zouk Flash Mob 2014. I had never done any latin dancing so it was a challenge that I looked forward to each Sunday learning the steps building up to the excitement of a flashmob. On the 21st of September the Brisbane Mob, 136 of us gathered at South Bank Parklands and danced our routine without a hitch. You can watch the video below.

After the flash mob, I continued learning more Zouk dancing.This year I have had fun dabbling in other styles of dancing, foxtrot, tango, bachata, salsa and hip-hop. I did this at some free dancing classes that were held at South Bank Parklands as part of the Active Parks Dance Program. Listening to reggae music is another passion of mine and I enjoy nothing more than moving rhythmically to reggae. My love of reggae is one reason why I subscribe annually to public radio 4zZz fm [2] which has a reggae show each week called “The Yard” [3]. This year for subscribing I was rewarded with a pass to see House of Shem, a band from New Zealand, playing this Friday night. Once again I have the opportunity to dance and move my body rhythmically to music.
Here are just 7 of the many benefits that come from dancing.

Fun: Dancing is enjoyable and makes people happy and smile. A month ago of was leaning to bachata with a large group of people doing a progressive dance where we changed partners after each routine. By the end of the song everyone had mastered the moved and had big smiles, were laughing and the feeling of joy had permeated all the dancers involved.

Dancing improves your cardiovascular health: Dancing is a form of exercise which is quite vigorous and helps to improve your cardiovascular fitness.

Dancing improves your coordination: Dancing involves moving rhythmically to music which improves your coordination. In order to dance a different style of music you need to learn new ways to move your body.

Social: Dancing, especially social dancing is a great way to meet people and expand your circle of friends. You might even meet the love of your life dancing.

Builds your confidence and self esteem: One of the most common excuses for not dancing is “I can’t dance” however this more often than not is code for “I have never tried or don’t want to try because I am shy that people might think I look funny and laugh at me.” Occasionally someone might laugh at someone dancing funnily but usually the dancer is having such a good time, enjoying themselves that they couldn’t care less what other people are thinking. Dancing helps people to get over social inhibitions and become more confident.

Reduce stress and increase relaxation: Dancing allows you to forget the stresses and troubles of the life because dancing focuses you in the present. Why? To dance you need to both listen to and feel the music as well as concentrate on the moves. Dancing also uses up your energy so that when you stop you are more relaxed.

Dancing gives you stronger bones: The more that you move the stronger your bones get.

Bonus Benefit boosts your memory because you need to remember “the moves” and think about where you will move next. A study in the New England Journal of medicine showed that frequent dancing was the physical activity most likely to protect against dementia. [4]

You can help me build a mobile free school teaching lifestyles of health and sustainability here.

Detox: Comes from the word detoxify which is a verb meaning “to rid of poison or the effect of poison”. [1] Everyday in our lives, our bodies are constantly bombarded by a soup of chemicals and pollutants. Some of the poisons such as alcohol and sugar are willingly consumed because they produce a physical craving effect upon withdrawal. This is called addiction. Some poisons enter the body through the skin in micro concentrations from cosmetics and other so called “beauty” products. These poisonous pollutants can accumulate over time and if they aren’t eliminated can lead to the precipitation of ill health.

In order to keep well and stay well a precautionary and preventative approach is best if your intention is to live a long, healthy and happy life. For this reason, it is important to ensure your body is working efficiently so that it can clean and heal itself. This is where regular detoxification comes in. The following are 7 ways to detox everyday. These are simple but effective habits that can be incorporated into your life.

Get more air. Oxygen. Breathe deep. Any competitive swimmer will tell you about the importance of breathing to their performance. Learning a deep breathing practice such as Quantum Pause Breathing (QPB) helps to get more oxygen into the blood which reaches all the cells in the body allowing them to work more efficiently. This helps to eliminate toxins. Breathing well also helps to detox the body because some toxins are exhaled. Deep breathing also helps you relax and deal with stress.A deep breathing technique such as QPB can be applied in any situation from daily meditation to sitting in traffic or a board meeting.

Drink Quality Water: Without water a human can only last 3 to 5 days. Drinking more water increases cellular hydration. This allows cells to dispose of toxins more readily in the form of urine. However there is a big difference between clean and energised water and the water in a bottle of Coke. One way to detox is to make sure you are getting all the water that you need in a clean health form. That means cutting out and eliminating the soft drinks, sodas, hard drinks and alcohol and replacing them with a good quality source of water. The most important times to drink water are first thing in the morning when you wake up and during exercise. This helps to hydrate your cells, aids urination and also aids digestion of your first meal. Ideally you should aim for 2 or more litres of water per day but this depends on your weight, your level of activity and where you live. [2] The best rule of thumb is aim for clear or light straw coloured urine. If your urine is dark, drink more water. [3]

Add vitamin C. Vitamin C increases your glutathione. Glutathione is an antioxidant which helps your body detox. Lemons are great source of Vitamin C and half a lemon can be squeezed into your first glass of water each day as an easy way to ensure you get your vitamin C. Lemon water has many other benefits that you can read about here.

Daily Yoga, the 5 Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation or Tai Chi. Setting your alarm 30 minutes earlier to do yoga or the 5 Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation will help detox you because these kinds of exercises stretch your body increasing the flow of blood to the finer capillaries which increases the body’s ability to get rid of toxins. These exercises also increase the efficiency of your lymphatic system which is responsible for regulating and managing the fluid levels in your body. [4]

Stop poisoning yourself. Stop alcohol and cigarettes. You can’t detoxify if you keep putting toxins and poisons into your body. Alcohol is a poison and cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals. “Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins. These cigarette ingredients include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT.” [5] You can get help to Quit Somking here.

Get physical. Exercise helps eliminate toxins through both perspiration and respiration processes.

Go natural. Stop using deodorants, eating processed foods and other dangerous or unknown chemicals. There are a variety of natural, chemical free solutions for many of our daily household and body products. One of the easiest and cheapest ways to detox is to eliminate these chemicals from your life and replace them with natural alternatives. Coconut oil for a moisturiser, apple cider vinegar for hair conditioner, vinegar and bicarbonate soda for cleaning, natural soap instead of body wash.

Check out my video 7 Ways to Detox.

Bonus way: Eat organically produced homegrown fruit and vegetables. Growing your own fruit and vegetables in a home garden has numerous benefits however it can also ensure you are consuming less toxins in the way of pesticide, herbicides and fungicides that are present in micro amounts in chemical based agricultural processes. Brocolli are one of the vegetables that uses a lot of chemicals in agricultural production. Growing your own is one way to ensure that there are no chemicals used in the production.

Along with air and water, food is essential to human survival. Like air and water there is a direct correlation with the quality of the food that you consume and your health and wellness. A diet high in raw fruit, vegetables and nuts has so many more benefits that the “Standard American/Australian Diet” (SAD) which has resulted in high rates of obesity and lifestyle diseases such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, tooth and bone decay and cancer.

One of the secrets to a lifestyle of health and sustainability is replacing processed and cooked food with natural foods that are raw. Choose produce direct from an organic farmer of even better homegrown using permaculture. Then you can walk outside and pick your broccoli leaves for your daily green juice make fresh salads with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and shallots.

I hear some of you saying,”I don’t like vegetables and eating salad every day would be boring.” It doesn’t have to be this way and my friend Gail has a great selection of raw cakes and desserts on her blog Gail’s raw temptations [1].

There are many benefits to increasing the proportion of your meals which raw. Ideally you should start by setting a goal of 50% raw foods, however the benefits of a raw diet really kick in when you reach 70% percent raw food.

Improved health. Increasing the amount of raw food in your diet

The nutrients are readily available. Nutrients in raw food are readily available for use in the body.

The nutrients aren’t destroyed by cooking. Phytonutrients in plants are destroyed by cooking the food above 130 degree

Consume a wider range of nutrients. People who choose to eat raw food consume a wider range of nutrients than people in a diet high in processed food.

Less immune response. Eating cooked and processed food causes an immune response in the body. So by increasing the amount of raw food in your diet you can have less of an immune response.

Weight loss. Moving away from a diet high in processed carbohydrates and low in nutrients towards a diet high in complex carbohydrates and fibre

Cheaper: A raw food diet is cheaper because there are less add on costs such as manufacturing and less packaging. There is also less environmental cost in the production of edible foods.

Yoga is an ancient form of exercise originating in India. Daily yoga practice has many benefits, balance, flexibility and strength. Before starting any exercise regime it is important to be checked by a doctor. There are many Youtube videos on yoga but for beginners I recommend starting Yoga under the guidance of a teacher. A good teacher is important because they can correct your body position in the different yoga poses and help prevent injury.

Once you have taken some classes, yoga is a convenient set of exercises that you can do in the privacy of your own home. I have found that yoga provides me with an improved standard of living and I recommend making it a part of your daily routine of good habits.

Here are the 7 of the many benefits of yoga.

Yoga improves your flexibility. With regular practice you will be able to touch your toes and have less aches and pains when moving.

Yoga improves your focus. Yoga requires focus on body position, breathing, stretching and balance. Yoga is like meditation and a great way to destress and unwind from daily pressures and achieve quietness of mind.

Yoga improves your strength. Yoga won’t make you look like a bodybuilder but it will improve your strength.

Yoga gives you better circulation. Yoga gets the blood flowing better right throughout your body. It is especially beneficial to the fine capillaries in the extremities of your fingers and toes.

Yoga makes you look better. Daily yoga will make you look fitter, helps people lose weight and results in improved posture.

Check out this Youtube video on the 7 benefits of yoga.

Bonus Benefit: Yoga gives you more energy. It gets the prana or chi flowing which gives you more energy in the day and also helps you sleep better.

If you like this article and video please subscribe or you can donate to James Blue House Free Schools, mobile schools project to build a free school in a double decker bus teaching lifestyles of health and sustainability.

The 7 benefits of lemon water. 7 reasons why drinking lemon water every morning is good for your health.

by James Arthur Warren

Lemons are a healthy fruit. Lemons originated from the middle east at the base of the Himalayas and spread around the world as one of the most widely consumed tropical fruits. Lemons contain many bioactive compounds, vitamins and essential mineral that assist in maintaining healthy body function. These include ascorbic acid, vitamin C, thiamin, pantothenic acid, iron, riboflavin, fibre, vitamin B6, copper, folate, potassium, beta-carotenes, lutein, vitamin A, zeaxanthin. All of these compounds have many health benefits. [1]

Water is life for without water we can not live.

Lemon water is simple to make. Take a large glass of water and squeeze half a lemon into it. It is a great refreshing way to begin every morning when you first wake up and a healthy habit to get into.

Lemon water hydrates your body. Water is an essential element to human survival. It is necessary for cell function and without water you would only survive for 3 to 5 days. After sleeping all night the body is dehydrated from respiration and drinking water rehydrates the body in order for it to work efficiently. There is evidence “that water plays an important role in both the specificity and affinity of protein-DNA interactions” [2]

Lemons contain Vitamin C. Lemons are high in ascorbic acid, vitamin C which has numerous benefits. These include: fighting infections, repairing the skin and promoting healing.

Lemon water helps you lose weight. There are benefits to drinking water that include weight loss [3]. However Lemons contain pectin which is a soluble fibre. Pectin helps prevent hunger cravings.

Helps detox. [4] Firstly, you increase the amount of urine when you increase your water intake. This helps to eliminate toxins. However lemons contain citric acid which is known to inhibit toxins and also enhances the ability of your body to flush out toxins naturally. [5][6]

Lemon Water Aids Digestion. One of the components of lemons are citric flavonoids which aid in lipid (fat) metabolism.[7]

Immune system boost. Lemons contain Vitamin C which is an immune system booster. Vitamin C is also good for relieving stress.

Energy. Yes drinking lemon water gives you energy.

Check out this video for more infomation on the benefits of drinking lemon water.

Bonus Benefit: Drinking lemon water helps to give you fresh breath.

If you’d like to contribute to the continuation of James’ Blue House Free Schools and help me build mobile free schools and education programs teaching lifestyles of health and sustainability you can donate here.https://www.gofundme.com/j6hahs

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James’ Blue House Free Schools

About the project

Based on the collective knowledge storytelling paradigm of the indigenous ancestors, our community classes are by taught by volunteers where anyone can be both a teacher and a student and when we all work together we can collectively create a healthy future for all people, living things and the planet.